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Technical Question: image format converting
Lanrutcon
The LabyrinthRegistered User regular
The LabyrinthRegistered User regular
(Not quite sure this is the right forum for this...)
I've been doing a relatively big project for a client for about 3 weeks not and he just settled on a printer to finish things off, problem is they're using Corel/Freehand on a Mac and I'm using Photoshop on a pc. Now, the printers (for some reason) want everything in a layered format. Anyone know how I convert my .psd files into something the printer can use while maintaining the layers?
I've been doing a relatively big project for a client for about 3 weeks not and he just settled on a printer to finish things off, problem is they're using Corel/Freehand on a Mac and I'm using Photoshop on a pc. Now, the printers (for some reason) want everything in a layered format. Anyone know how I convert my .psd files into something the printer can use while maintaining the layers?
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Lanrutcon on
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Do they want vectors or layers? Because when printers say they want everything layered it's usually because they process the image layer by layer / using the layer data to lay down one color, etc.
And I'm surprised that a printer doesn't have photoshop. That's bogus, go to a better shop.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Ugh. For starters, you shouldn't be letting other people take away editable artwork that you've created. You own that shit, they want alterations to it at a later date, they can pay you to make them. Even if they have paid you to create an image, you still own all the rights to that image.
What sort of print are we talking about here? The printer only being able to accept Freehand or Corel Draw, besides suggesting that they are ridiculously out of date with their software, suggests that they may be some sort of screen printers who would need vector artwork?
If so, man, converting this thing from Photoshop is likely to be something of a nightmare. You'd have to select separate elements, convert selection to vectors, export vectors to illustrator, recompose the separate vectors into the original image in Illustrator again and apply the necessary colours to them then save the file as a PDF or EPS and hope the printers are competent enough to be able to import one of those file formats into their antiquated software options.
If it's not being screen printed and you are happy giving away editable artwork, the simplest solution would be to simply supply them with the unflattened PSD file, but then are they going to be able to open that anyway? Really, there's no easy way to convert a Photoshop file into an editable Freehand or Corel Draw file without completely rebuilding it in a new program.
They really should have made you aware of these requirements at the briefing stage as there's a good chance that you've possibly wasted a lot of time working in a file format that isn't compatible with the printer's software, may not be the most suitable format for the printing technique being used and/or they may now be asking you for something which simply isn't possible to provide (say you've done a flat illustration in photoshop with no layering so there are no layers to edit).
If text is the only thing that needs to be edited at a later date, you might consider supplying them with the illustration without any text on it as a flattened TIFF and then supplying that along with a proof showing the positioning of the text. Then they can import the TIFF into one of their stupid programs and put the text on themselves (and edit it later as they see fit).
With the exception of embossing/debossing, which could also be done this way, things like spot colours, varnishes, diecuts and perforations should really be added using additional colour channels in photoshop or with spot colours in any other program anyway.
Giving a printer a layered file is just asking for trouble. At best, it just means bigger file sizes which take longer to supply, at worst you hit plug-in incompatibilities, font substitution, elements accidentally getting shifted and God knows what else.